Niku IIII (2001)

Why is it Niku IIII instead of Niku IV? It's not that we don't quite grasp the Roman Numeral system (really, it's not). It's purely a marketing ploy. On the Niku IIII logo the four "I"s are represented as slashes as if made by the claws of a tiger (TIGHAR). Maybe it "works," maybe it doesn't, but we're sorta stuck with it.[1]

Contents

Fieldwork 2001

Fieldwork in 2001 was focused on three locations, at opposite ends of the island.

The Seven Site

The "bones" files found by Peter MacQuarrie in the Kiribati National Archives in 1997, and the detailed documentation of the 1940 bones discovery subsequently located in the Western Pacific High Commission archives in England, had led us to take another look at the site cursorily examined in 1996 at the southeast end of the island. Now called the "Seven Site" because of its association with a natural seven-shaped clearing in the scaevola, it had several things to recommend it as the site of the 1940 discovery.

1. It was near the southeast end of the island, as Gallagher had specified.
2. It had clearly been the scene of some kind of activity during the colonial period -- perhaps the "detailed search" that Gallagher was directed to make, or whatever activities had led to discovery of the bones.
3. A 1941 U.S. Navy airphoto of the island showed evidence that vegetation had been cleared there -- again perhaps reflective of the search or some other colonial land-use activity.
4. There was a hole in the ground on the site, which conceivably could be where the cranium was buried and then excavated.

So a major purpose of the 2001 expedition was to clear scaevola from the vicinity of the hole and then re-excavate it and its backdirt pile, in case teeth had been lost from the cranium and wound up there.

The Triangle Site

In examining the satellite image obtained before fieldwork began (See below), we noticed a roughly triangular area of high-canopy forest in an area that otherwise appeared to have been cleared and overgrown in scaevola. This site was directly across the lagoon from the Seven Site, and therefore, like the Seven Site, could be said to be at the southeast end of the island. We speculated that perhaps this was actually where the bones were found, and that it had been left alone while nearby areas were bulldozed (presumably during the Coast Guard's stay on the island) because of its association with the bones. It was even possible to imagine the discussions leading to its not being bulldozed as the source of Floyd Kilts' story. So a survey of what we came to call the "Triangle Site" was scheduled.

The Nutiran "Grave"

During the 1999 fieldwork, a standing coral slab resembling a traditional I Kiribati gravestone had been recorded on the Nutiran shore, not far from the Norwich City. Thinking that this might represent the skeleton reported by Emily Sikuli to have been found in the vicinity, we proposed to excavate this location; permission to examine any human remains found there was granted by the government of Kiribati.

The Lagoon and Reef

Seeking the kinds of airplane parts reported by Tapania Taiki and her father, further underwater surveys were planned along the Nutiran-Ritiati reef face, and in the north end of the lagoon -- the latter involving both diving and wading metal-detecting.

The Satellite Photo

Leading up to the 2001 expedition, TIGHAR was able to obtain a high resolution satellite photo of Nikumaroro that proved to be an excellent research tool for locating specific areas of the island, particularly the 7 site. Upon examination of the area North of the wreck of the Norwich City, a particularly unusual rusty colored area revealed itself, and became a focus of attention and excitement leading up to the expedition.

GPS Data and the Start of the NIku GIS Project

NIKU IIII was the the first year during which multiple Expedition Team Members brought with them handheld personal GPS units (was it?) . Many waypoints were logged during the trip and collated after the expedition. The data has been overlaid by James Thompson of Select GIS Services onto a copy of the second 2001 Sat photo (post expedition) as you will see below.

And also overlaid onto this outline of the satellite photo.

Results

The results of fieldwork at the Seven Site are detailed at (LINK). Results of the Triangle Site survey are given at (LINK).

A 2x2 meter square was excavated at the Nutiran "grave" site to a depth of two meters, and exposed only natural stratigraphy resulting from repeated overflooding events. We concluded that the standing stone was in fact a property boundary marker. The excavation was backfilled.

Divers excamined the reef face from landing channel, to the wreck of the Norwich City, and all the way up to near the NE corner of the island from the surf line down to a depth of about 20 meters (60 Ft) including the many "canyons" in the reef face. The "rusty" colored area of interest seen in the satellite photo turned out to be a shallow shelf of coral that was covered in reddish algae. The underwater search Results were negative with exception of the obvious debris field directly down slope from the remains of the Norwich City shipwreck.

Divers and waders examined and metal-detected the shallows of the northern lagoon, also with generally negative results. Much of the northern end of the lagoon was inspected by two divers towed behind the aluminum skiff using Manta boards to skim the bottom of the lagoon. A truck wheel and tire were recorded, and a stainless steel exhaust manifold of a B-24 was recovered. Both are interpreted as trash from the later colonial village period; the Loran Station was equipped with a truck, and we have found other B-24 parts in the village, probably from a crash site on Canton Island, where some of the Nikumaroro colonists were employed in the 1940s and 50s.

The Seven Site

(Note: The following text was prepared by Tom King as a preliminary report immediately after the expedition's return)

Introduction

The Seven Site –so named because it abuts a natural clearing in the te Mao that has the shape of a crude numeral “7” – also lies at the southeast end of the island. Strictly speaking it is on the north shore of the southeast end, not on the southeastern shore, but there is no reason to assume that Gallagher felt compelled to report such fine distinctions. Airphotos show that the Seven Site vicinity was cleared in 1941, about the time Gallagher would have been conducting the “intensive search” of the bones site that the High Commissioner’s office told him to carry out. Paul Laxton (1951) says that in 1949 there was a “house built for Gallagher” on land cleared from the lagoon to the ocean shore in this vicinity. A land parcel at approximately the location of the Seven Site was reserved for government, or for Gallagher himself, on maps of land divisions as late as the 1950s, over a decade after Gallagher’s death .

The Seven Site first came to TIGHAR’s attention through reports by former members of the U.S. Coast Guard Loran unit on the island during World War II. Dr. Richard Evans and Mr. Herb Moffitt reported seeing a tank used as part of a water collection device, unknown to the I Kiribati colonists, in the general area (c.f., King et al 2001:117-8). Thinking the tank might be from Earhart’s Electra, and represent an Earhart/Noonan campsite, TIGHAR searched for it unsuccessfully during the 1991 expedition (c.f., King et al 2001:121-2). In 1996, after finding the image of something that might be the tank on a 1941 air photo, TIGHAR revisited the area and this time found the tank (c.f., King et al., 2001:151-6). The tank, about a meter square, was (and is) made of steel, and bore the name of the Tarawa Police. Nearby were bird bones, a roll of green asphalt siding, and a hole in the ground measuring about 1.5 meter in diameter, together with a piece of copper hardware cloth, a 30 caliber cartridge, a white stoneware plate sherd, and other artifacts clearly of either colonial or Coast Guard origin. Concluding that the site had nothing to do with Earhart, TIGHAR gave it no further consideration until the bones discovery papers came to light in 1998. Faced now with a documented discovery of bones in an apparent campsite on the southeast corner of the island, and the coincidence of Gallagher’s intensive search with the photo-documented clearance of land at the Seven Site, TIGHAR had to reconsider its dismissal of the site from investigation. Perhaps, we thought, the tank and other colonial-era objects were the remains of the intensive search, in support of which a “house” might even have been “built for Gallagher” – especially since Gallagher’s quarterly report for the end of 1940 indicates severe inclement weather.

This line of reasoning drew attention to the hole in the Seven Site. Gallagher says that when the bones were discovered, several months before his own relocation to the island from Manra, the cranium was buried, apparently at the direction of Native Magistrate Koata. Although Koata had left the island by the time Gallagher learned of the discovery, and Gallagher did not immediately excavate the cranium, he says in one of his initial telegrams that “many teeth are present.” After excavating the cranium, and the intensive search, he reports only five teeth, all in the mandible. Perhaps, we reasoned, the hole in the Seven Site was where the cranium had been buried and subsequently exhumed. Perhaps “many teeth” had been present in the cranium when it went into the ground, but not when it came out. If this were true, these teeth – excellent reservoirs of mitochondrial DNA – might still be in the hole or its backdirt pile. The Seven Site, and its hole, thus became a major focus of the 2001expedition.

Study Approach

Using satellite imagery and Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) navigation, we cut through the te Mao from the lagoon shore to the “7” – a long-persisting natural clearing – and then backtracked to find the hole and tank. These features were separated from the “7” by about thirty meters of very dense te Mao. We began clearing along a ten-meter front, beginning at the outward (southern) tip of the “7’s” top member, proceeding southerly. Clearing was accomplished using chainsaw, bush knives, loppers, and much tedious hauling and piling of green and dead te Mao. Cut material, which developed into quite major piles, was heaped in the “7” itself. Reaching the tank, we widened the cut to about twenty meters to clear its vicinity and that of the hole. Later another cut was made to the west to open up what we called the Morrissey Locus after its discoverer, expedition medic Jim Morrissey.

As clearing progressed, the topography of the site, hitherto obscured by the vegetation, became clear. Just south of the “7,”and more or less parallel with its long limb, is a low ridge with a maximum elevation of about 3.5 meters above sea level. The ground drops off to the south-southwest, about a meter, to the level of the tank and hole. It then continues to drop gently to the lagoon shore, a total distance of about 200 meters from the ocean-side high tide line. The microclimatic difference between the ridge and the tank/hole vicinity is marked. Temperatures at the site routinely ran in the high 90s (f), and temperatures of 110 degrees (f) were not uncommon, even in the shade, but the prevailing trade winds kept the ridge relatively pleasant while the tank/hole area was always baking hot.

The ridge also benefited from the presence of several good-sized te Ren and te Uri. About fifty meters northwest of the "7” a stand of large, apparently old-growth te Buka begins, which runs for perhaps half a kilometer up the spine of the island. Air photos suggest that this forest may have extended across the Seven Site (though not across the “7”) in 1938.

Because the ridge was so (relatively) pleasant, it naturally became the place to which team members gravitated to cool off during rest breaks. This led to the discovery of fish, bird, and turtle bones just under the forest-floor duff, together with an elongate cluster of giant clam (Tridacna gigas) valves. Since Gallagher had described the bones discovery site as including the remains of bird, fish, and turtle, the ridge naturally became an important focus of our attention.

Eventually, we excavated and/or carried out intensive surface examinations in five loci – the Hole Locus, the Tank Locus, the Ridge Locus, the Slope Locus, and the Morrissey Locus. At each locus, work was carried out under tarpaulin sunscreens constructed by expedition medic James Morrissey, which proved remarkably capable not only of making work bearable in the blazing sun but of standing up through frequent gusty rain squalls. In addition to controlled work in specific loci, all cleared areas were mapped and swept with metal detectors, and a good deal of informal reconnaissance was done in the te Mao to the southeast and the te Buka forest to the northwest. Reconnaissance was also carried out for comparative purposes at the Ameriki Loran Station Site, at Karaka Village on Ritiati, and among the house sites on the Nutiran shore. Reconnaissance was also carried out along the lagoon shore, and along the route of an apparent trail that appears in a 1938 air photo between the Seven Site and the lagoon.

After surface mapping and photography, -- during which a white stoneware plate sherd decorated with the U.S. Coast Guard emblem was found and recovered -- the backdirt pile from the hole, which was quite evident to the south and southeast of the hole itself, was excavated and passed first through ¼” and then through 1/8” screen. It should be said, however, that much of the material both in the Hole Locus and elsewhere did not pass through the screen at all, since it comprised finger-sized to fist-sized pieces of coral rubble. The hole and its backdirt were particularly rubbly, with a very light humic content. Once the backdirt pile had been removed, the same system of excavation was applied to 2 x 2.5-meter rectangle enclosing the hole itself, subdivided into quarters. All material caught in screens was carefully inspected by daylight, and everything that passed the ¼” screen but was caught in the 1/8” was inspected under ultraviolet (UV) light during two overnight sojourns at the site. Bones and teeth fluoresce in UV light. All work at the Hole Locus was supervised by forensic anthropologist Dr. Karen Burns, with Mr. Gary Quigg and various associates doing the digging.

At 50 cm., the depth of the hole’s surface expression, the excavation unit floor was scraped and revealed what appeared to be evidence of two pits – one coincident with the original hole, the other slightly to the southwest of the first. Both were filled with coral rubble and very little humus, while their surroundings were somewhat more humic and made up of smaller rubble fragments. The second pit could also be seen in the south and west sidewalls of the excavation. In subsequent levels the two pits seemed to coalesce, and at 80 cm. they disappeared altogether.

No human bones or teeth were found, but fish and bird bones were sporadically recovered from about 40 cm. downward, sometimes associated with small rust flakes. Several bird and fish bones appeared in the very deepest level excavated (90-100 cm.). At this point, we decided that however intriguing these bones might be, they were not likely to be relevant enough to our research to justify further work. The excavation was clearly marked for future reference, partly backfilled, and closed down.

The Tank Locus

The Tank Locus, at the southern base of the ridge slope, of course contains the tank – a 99 x 99 cm. steel box with “Police X Tarawa” hand-lettered on two opposing sides. Collapsed inside the tank is the heavy steel rim for a dogged hatch, the hatch itself (labeled “Baldwin Tank Co., London”) lying on the ground outside. Coconut shell halves first noted in 1996 also were found in the tank. Two holes in the tank, filled with bolts, nuts, and washers, recall a story told TIGHAR just before departure by an ex-Coast Guardsman, about a tank shot through by one of his companions, that had to be patched because the colonists were still using it. The holes, with their surrounding metal and contents, were collected by Skeet Gifford for analysis.

Very similar tanks were recorded in the village at the Rest House, at the Carpenter’s shop, and at what may have been the dispensary. In each case (except possibly at the Carpenter’s shop, where the tank may simply have been in storage), the tanks were used to collect rainwater from the buildings’ roofs. In the case of the possible dispensary, Christopher Kennedy was able to demonstrate that the tank still contained water, which still ran out of a spigot at the bottom when the latter was turned on.

Adjacent to the tank at the Seven Site, to the west, were two wooden posts and a rust field that clearly represented corrugated iron. Mapping suggested that this feature represents a collapsed iron-roofed structure, whose roof drained rainwater into the tank.

South of the tank was a rather extensive scatter of bird bones, first noted in 1996. These were mapped and collected.

In 1996 the base of a light bulb was found near the tank. In 2001 two more pieces of this bulb were found. Other artifacts in the Tank Locus included screening scraps, pieces of wire, a plate sherd with a blue line near its rim (much like a line on the U.S. Coast Guard plate sherd found in the Hole Locus), and 30 caliber shells.

The Ridge Locus

Three 2 x 2 meter and one 1 x 2 meter units were intensively surface-collected and excavated on the crest and north face of the ridge. Two surface features outside the excavation units were also investigated, together with a number of metal detector hits. Each excavation unit was dug in 1 meter quadrants, with all “soil” passed through ¼” and then 1/8” screen. The “soil” was uniformly dominated by coral rubble, but with a considerable admixture of humus. Each unit was excavated to 10 cm., and then the most productive quadrant was taken to 20 cm. Invariably, the 10-20 cm. levels were virtually devoid of bones or other cultural material. All bones and plates were collected by level and quadrant, together with a sample of the very numerous scales.

The Ridge Locus produced a large amount of bird, fish, and turtle bones, together with turtle shell plates and fish scales, in several discrete concentrations. Some of the bone was clearly burned, and small flecks of charcoal were noted. One of the concentrations also contained an odd folded piece of green asphalt siding, identical with the roll of such material found in 1996 about ten meters to the southeast along the ridge. The siding is folded around what appears to be a felt-like fabric. A similar but more deteriorated artifact was found about two meters from the first.

About five meters south of the four excavated units, a cluster of smallish Tridacna gigas (giant clam) valves was described and recovered. The cluster was elongated, with its long axis running NE-SW. It was made up of some 35 valves and fragments, most fitting together to represent fifteen to sixteen clams. Average length of valve is about 20 cm. A number of the valves were badly fragmented, as though bashed with a rock. Several fist-sized chunks of coral were noted among the shells. Particles of the green material that coats the asphalt siding formed a thin layer in the soil immediately east of the Tridacna feature, suggesting that a sheet of the material had deteriorated there.

In a 1938 air photo, what appears to be a trail can be seen extending from the Seven Site to a point on the lagoon shore somewhat northwest of the site. The approximate route of this trail was traced, and was found to be relatively easy walking. At its lagoon-side end was a bed of Tridacna similar in size to those in the Seven Site feature. Other small beds of Tridacna were noted along adjacent stretches of lagoon shore. The Tridacna were invariably dead; cause of death was not determined.

Immediately to the northeast of the Tridacna feature was a cluster of small bivalves, species not yet determined. The feature was about a meter across and some ten cm. deep. It is estimated to comprise one hundred or more individual valves, presumably representing fifty or more individuals. Only a sample of valves was collected.

Three to four meters northeast of the small bivalve feature is the roll of green-coated asphalt siding, a sample of which was collected. Vigorous searches were made for similar material at the Loran Station Site, in the village, and among the Nutiran housesites. Two small patches of apparently identical siding were found on the outer side of the southeastern corner of the wireless station in the village.

Metal detecting and visual examination revealed a dense field of rust just east of the Tridacna feature, extending for several meters up and down the ridge slope and for an unknown distance into the uncleared te Mao to the east. Careful examination indicated that the rust represented multiple rectangular sheets of iron, some if not all of it corrugated. The sheets appeared to measure about 2 x 4 meters, but each deposit may in fact represent multiple sheets. Corrugated iron siding, originally galvanized but now rusted to closely resemble the Seven Site material, was noted at the Loran Station. Similar material, usually less badly oxidized, is also present in the village and at Nutiran. The metal sheets at the Seven Site appear to have lain on top of the small bivalve feature and the roll of siding, though both features have emerged as the iron has disintegrated.

Isolated artifacts at the Ridge Locus included a number of 30 caliber and 22 caliber bullet casings, a small piece of milled lumber, and two pieces of asbestos siding identical to that found in the village on the cistern, on the Rest House cookhouse, and in the ruins of another public building. Both the cistern and cookhouse are roofed with corrugated asbestos, which has not yet turned up at the Seven Site.

Morrissey Locus

The Morrissey Locus is about twenty meters west of the Ridge Locus, along the same ridge. After burned bird and fish bones were found here by its namesake, James Morrissey, one 2 x 2 and one 1 x 2 meter unit were excavated using the same techniques employed at the Ridge Locus. These revealed a concentration of charcoal, burned fish and bird bones, and fish scales. A small sample of charcoal was collected for radiocarbon age determination, together with all bone and a sample of scales.

Metal detecting in the vicinity yielded a number of 30 caliber shells, one unexpended 30 caliber round, and a 30 caliber bullet. At the very end of the project, another fire feature was found, downslope to the southeast, which contained two 30 caliber cartridges and burned brown bottle glass. Time did not permit excavation of this feature.

Slope Locus

This locus comprises the ridge slope southeast of the Ridge Locus and upslope from the tank. Metal detector sweeps resulted in multiple hits here, whose excavation revealed not only the usual rest flakes and 30 caliber shells, but also pieces of glass and some enigmatic electric or electronic components. A single 2 x 2 meter unit was excavated here, and a single external feature was mapped but not recovered. The excavation was done in the usual way, except that only ¼” screen was employed.

The excavation unit was devoid of cultural material except in its southeast quadrant, where many fish and bird bones were found. There is evidence of another burn feature just upslope, which can be seen in the profile of the unit’s east and south walls.

Upslope to the southeast, on the other side of the apparent burn feature (which supports a vigorous growth of te Mao), a second Tridacna feature was cleared and recorded but not removed. As in the first such feature, some fifteen clams were represented by about thirty valves, in an elongate cluster. Some of the clams were somewhat larger than those in the first feature (up to about 30 cm. long), and only one or two were broken as though bashed with a rock. Associated with this feature were a ferrous cap for some kind of container, two odd screw-mounted clips, a strip of small-mesh copper screen (common all over the site), and a 40 x 40 cm. rectangle of rust, apparently either a sheet of iron or a collapsed metal box, with what look like rivets or studs along one edge. All these associations were collected except for the last, from which only the pieces with stud- or rivet-like bumps were recovered.

Several other pieces of copper screening were found on the surface of the Slope Locus, as well as elsewhere on the site. Other artifacts recovered included 30 caliber cartridges, the cut-off end of a battery cable, a small apparatus that may be an electronic component, and three pieces of glass. Each of the last is of a distinct kind of glass, and two show edge flaking that may represent use as tools.

Preliminary Interpretation

At least three distinct sets of human activities are evident at the Seven Site, which may or may not be related to one another.

The ubiquitous 30 caliber and (much less common) 22 caliber cartridges almost certainly represent recreational shooting by Coast Guardsmen during World War II. The plate sherds may also reflect this activity; tossed into the air, they would make good skeet-like targets. Some of the bird bones, notably those in the Tank Unit, may represent a similar use of birds as targets.

The tank and its associations, probably the ferrous sheets and asphalt and asbestos siding, and the hole are probably the results of work done at the site by I Kiribati colonists. The kinds of work involved remain mysterious. The tank and its associated structure, and the hole, are consistent with our hypothetical identification of the site as the location of Gallagher’s intensive search. The structure by the tank may have been the “house built for Gallagher,” though there are questions to be resolved about this interpretation. The extensive sheet metal features, asbestos siding fragments, and rolled asphalt siding have no obvious relevance to a search operation. The sheet metal, at least, probably arrived at the site sometime after 1946, when large amounts of it became available with abandonment of the Loran Station. The asphalt siding may have arrived earlier, since it underlay the sheet metal and has been found elsewhere only in thevillage, not at the Loran site. The asbestos siding is identical to that found on the cistern and cookhouse, among the village’s oldest buildings. The copper screening also seems most likely to be of colonial origin; identical screening was found in the village and on the Nutiran shore, while only screening of a smaller gauge was found at the Loran site.

Of most interest, of course, are the several (at least six) deposits of burned and unburned fish, bird, and turtle bones, together with the two Tridacna features and the small bivalve feature. Clearly these represent someone’s use of local food resources, probably for subsistence, but who the user or users may have been remains to be determined. At least the following possibilities exist:

Prehistoric or historic period voyagers from other islands (e.g., Manra or Orona, which supported populations in prehistoric times), visiting Nikumaroro to fish and hunt.

PISS colonists.

Coast Guardsmen.

The castaway or castaways.

There is some reason to think that the last possibility is the most likely. The lack of evidence either of traditional earth oven (umum) cooking or of post-contact cooking pots tends to argue against traditional or colonial-period Polynesians or Micronesians as the ones responsible for the burn features. It is difficult to imagine Coast Guardsmen doing much cooking of local fauna on the site, and one would expect such an activity to have produced more World War II-vintage food and beverage containers than we have thus far noted. On the other hand, things like the possible flaked-glass tools suggest adaptation of available tools to serve subsistence needs – something that is very much to be expected of a castaway. All this is speculative, however, and requires much more analysis.

The Triangle Site

The Triangle Site is a roughly triangular patch of apparent pristine native vegetation on the southeastern shore of the island, surrounded by the dense masses of te Mao (Scaevola frutescens) typical of land that has been cleared but not successfully planted in coconut. It was investigated because it meets the general geographic description given by Gallagher (Southeast shore), and because its character suggested an answer to an otherwise rather mysterious question. Former U.S. Coast Guardsman Floyd Kilts reported in 1960 that he had been told about a discovery of bones on Nikumaroro, which the island’s “Irish magistrate” had associated with Earhart (c.f., King et al 2001:54-6). Since we now know that Gallagher was instructed to keep the discovery confidential – direction that it seems likely he would have passed on to his I Kiribati colleagues, why did a colonist tell Kilts about it? We speculated that if Kilts had been involved in land clearing operations (Veterans of the Coast Guard Loran Station on the island have told us that they did engage in such operations), he might have been warned not to disturb the site, and told about the discovery in order to explain the warning.

The Triangle Site was accessed from the lagoon shore by cutting a trail into what proved to be a grove of (apparently) rather young te Kanawa (Chordia subchordata), and then through dense te Mao to the ocean shore just west of the site. The site itself was found to be wooded in rather small Buka trees (Pisonia grandis), together with te Kanawa, te Ren, and te Uri. Elsewhere on the island te Buka have trunk diameters of up to a meter; at the Triangle Site twenty to forty centimeter diameters were typical. This is comparable with the diameter of te Buka observed growing through World War II-era corrugated metal at the Ameriki Loran Site.

The Triangle Site was first given a general surface inspection by John Clauss, William Carter, and the author. Subsequently Carter and James Morrissey swept the site with metal detectors and raked the surface clear of surface litter, permitting close visual inspection. The only human association found, besides contemporary flotsam in the shorefront vegetation, was a single 30 caliber rifle or carbine cartridge. Without anything of evident interest to investigate, and in view of the pressing need to devote resources to the Seven Site (see above), the Triangle Site was not investigated further.